Watches & Wonders Edit: Chanel unveils new timepieces at the 2022 event, from the J12 Diamond Tourbillon Caliber 5 and the Mademoiselle J12 La Pausa, to the Boyfriend Skeleton Red Edition
- In addition to new Mademoiselle pieces featuring Coco Chanel in a Bretton top and sailor trousers on the dial, the 112-year-old brand launched several other updates to its storied collection
- The Boyfriend Skeleton Red Edition is an ultra-elegant head-turner, while new capsule collection Chanel Wanted features six new takes on Chanel’s most iconic models
The instantly recognisable figure of the house’s founder, Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, adorns the dial of three new pieces. The Mademoiselle J12 La Pausa shows her dressed in a Breton top and sailor trousers; on the J12 Gabrielle Calibre 3.1, she’s all in black and adorned with pearls; while the Mademoiselle J12. XS entwines her around the case as a figurine, depicted in white gold and black lacquer.
The J12 Diamond Tourbillon Caliber 5 comes equipped with Chanel’s first in-house flying tourbillon movement, featuring a solitaire diamond in the centre of the tourbillon cage. It’s accompanied by further diamonds on the bezel, hands and crown, while the case comes in matt black ceramic and steel or glossy black ceramic and 18-carat white gold.
The clean lines of the Boyfriend collection, meanwhile, have been given the skeleton treatment on two new pieces. An evolution of the skeletonised Boyfriend first unveiled in 2018, the Boyfriend Skeleton Red Edition and Boyfriend Skeleton X-ray Red Edition, are both distinguished by the maison’s signature scarlet hue.
Those three weren’t the only highlights among the timepieces Chanel revealed at Watches and Wonders. Among numerous other new versions of the J12 was the first J12 33mm equipped with the self-winding calibre 12.2 movement; two new iterations of the J12 Baguette Diamond Bezel; the J12 Baguette Diamond Star 33mm, with baguette-cut diamonds smothering the bezel, dial and bracelet; the sharp ceramic J12 Black Star, equipped with the famed Caliber 12.1; the J12 X-ray Red Edition Rouge, a red tinted version of head turning transparent watch unveiled in 2020; new capsule collection Chanel Wanted, featuring iterations of six iconic Chanel models; and a new edition of the Mademoiselle Privé Bouton, part of the maison’s Métiers d’Art collection. Chanel’s novelties from Watches and Wonders this year include a work of art for every wrist.